[9][10] Musicologist Todd Decker stated, "Magnolia's embrace of show business as a means to survive as a single mother is directly linked to Ferber's use of black music to characterize her heroine.

[25] At the end of the novel, Magnolia watches her daughter Kim study to become a singer and actress; only to have the life and soul of her talents driven out of her by the white music and theatre education system.

[34] To make Show Boat fit the Ziegfeld brand, the pair transformed the novel into a romance,[35] fundamentally changing Ferber's tale of three generations of women in a family, Parthy, Magnolia, and Kim.

[39] They sold their idea to him partly by building material around specific talent, such as hiring vaudeville performers into the show and providing opportunities for a chorus that featured beautiful white women.

[44] Though Ziegfeld planned to stage the premiere at the opening on his new Broadway theatre on Sixth Avenue, the epic scope of the work required an unusually long period of development.

[17] Additionally, Ziegfeld was concerned that the serious tone of the musical would not appeal to audiences and strongly disliked the songs Ol' Man River[45] and Mis'ry's Comin' Aroun.

A handsome riverboat gambler, Gaylord Ravenal, appears on the levee and is taken with eighteen-year-old Magnolia ("Nolie") Hawks, an aspiring performer and the daughter of Cap'n Andy and his wife Parthenia Ann ("Parthy").

Depressed over his inability to support his family, Ravenal abandons Magnolia and Kim, but first visits his daughter at the convent where she goes to school to say goodbye before leaving her forever ("Make Believe" (reprise)).

[70] The character Joe, the stevedore who sings "Ol' Man River", was expanded from the novel and written specifically by Kern and Hammerstein for Paul Robeson, already a noted actor and singer.

The show was directed by Hammerstein and Hassard Short and featured Jan Clayton (Magnolia), Charles Fredricks (Ravenal), Carol Bruce (Julie), Kenneth Spencer (Joe), Helen Dowdy (Queenie), and Buddy Ebsen (Frank).

[75] The 1954 production was mounted by the New York City Opera with Burl Ives (Cap'n Andy), Laurel Hurley (Magnolia), Robert Rounseville (Ravenal), Helena Bliss (Julie), Marjorie Gateson (Parthy), Boris Aplon (Pete), Lawrence Winters (Joe), and Helen Phillips (Queenie) [76] The Music Theatre of Lincoln Center company produced Show Boat in 1966 at the New York State Theater in a new production.

It starred Barbara Cook (Magnolia), Constance Towers (Julie), Stephen Douglass (Ravenal), David Wayne (Cap'n Andy), Margaret Hamilton (Parthy) and William Warfield (Joe).

[82] Other cast members included Ron Raines (Gaylord Ravenal), Sheryl Woods (Magnolia), Avril Gentles (Parthy), Bruce Hubbard (Joe), and Paige O'Hara (Ellie).

The production restored part of the original 1927 overture and one number discarded from the show after the Broadway opening, as well as the song Ah Still Suits Me, written by Kern and Hammerstein for the 1936 film version.

[60] Livent Inc. produced Show Boat in Toronto in 1993, starring Rebecca Luker as Magnolia, Mark Jacoby as Ravenal, Lonette McKee as Julie, Robert Morse as Cap'n Andy, Elaine Stritch as Parthy, Michel Bell as Joe and Gretha Boston as Queenie.

Robert Morse remained in the Toronto cast and was joined by Cloris Leachman as Parthy, Patti Cohenour as Magnolia, Hugh Panaro as Ravenal, and Valerie Pettiford as Julie.

[citation needed] The original London West End production of Show Boat opened May 3, 1928, at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane and featured among the cast, Cedric Hardwicke as Capt.

[86] Karla Burns, who had appeared as Queenie in the 1983 Broadway revival, reprised the role for the Opera North and RSC production, becoming the first black performer to win the Laurence Olivier Award.

[100] Show Boat was the first Broadway musical to seriously depict an interracial marriage, as in Ferber's original novel, and to feature a character of mixed race who was "passing" for white.

Originally the show opened with the black chorus onstage singing: In subsequent productions, "niggers" has been changed to "colored folk", to "darkies", and in one choice, "Here we all", as in "Here we all work on the Mississippi.

They wanted to alert the audience to the realities of racism: 'Show Boat begins with the singing of that most reprehensible word – nigger – yet this is no coon song... [it] immediately establishes race as one of the central themes of the play.

Those who consider Show Boat racially insensitive often note that the dialogue and lyrics of the black characters (especially the stevedore Joe and his wife Queenie) and choruses use various forms of African American Vernacular English.

An example of this is shown in the following text: Whether or not such language is an accurate reflection of the vernacular of black people in Mississippi at the time, the effect of its usage has offended some critics, who see it as perpetuating racial stereotypes.

[107] Attempts by non-black writers to imitate black language stereotypically in songs such as "Ol' Man River" were alleged to be offensive, a claim that was repeated eight years later by critics of Porgy and Bess.

After planned performances in 1999 by an amateur company in Middlesbrough, England, where "the show would entail white actors 'blacking up'" were "stopped because [they] would be 'distasteful' to ethnic minorities", the critic for a local newspaper declared that the cancellation was "surely taking political correctness too far.

A critic noted that he included "an absolutely beautiful piece of music cut from the original production and from the movie ["Mis'ry's Comin' Round"] ... a haunting gospel melody sung by the black chorus.

Douglass K. Daniel of Kansas State University has commented that it is a "racially flawed story",[116] and the African-Canadian writer M. NourbeSe Philip claims: The affront at the heart of Show Boat is still very alive today.

[119] Carmen Jones is an attempt to present a modern version of the classic French opera through the experiences of African Americans during wartime, and South Pacific explores interracial marriage and prejudice.

Regarding the original author of Show Boat, Ann Shapiro states thatEdna Ferber was taunted for being Jewish; as a young woman eager to launch her career as a journalist, she was told that the Chicago Tribune did not hire women reporters.

According to African-American opera singer Phillip Boykin, who played the role of Joe in a 2000 tour,Whenever a show deals with race issues, it gives the audience sweaty palms.